The Girl Who Hid | ✓

|53| Family

Despite the fact that Ron and Hermione were supposed to be studying for their exams, which would finish on the day of the third task, they were putting most of their efforts into helping Harry and me prepare.

"Don't worry about it," Hermione said shortly when I pointed this out to them and said I didn't mind practicing with Harry on our own for a while, "at least we'll get top marks in Defense Against the Dark Arts. We'd never have found out about all these hexes in class."

"Good training for when we're all Aurors," said Ron excitedly, attempting the Impediment Curse on a wasp that had buzzed into the room and making it stop dead in midair.

The mood in the castle as we entered June became excited and tense again. Everyone was looking forward to the third task, which would take place a week before the end of term. Harry and I were practicing hexes at every available moment. I felt more confident about this task than either of the others, to be quite honest. Difficult and dangerous though it would undoubtedly be, Moody was right: We had managed to find our way past monstrous creatures and enchanted barriers before now, and this time we had some notice, some chance to prepare ourselves for what lay ahead.

Tired of walking in on Harry, Hermione, Ron, and I all over the school, Professor McGonagall had given us permission to use the empty Transfiguration classroom at lunchtimes. I had quite mastered the Impediment Curse, a spell to slow down and obstruct attackers; the Reductor Curse, which would enable me to blast solid objects out of his way; and the Four-Point Spell, a useful discovery of Hermione's that would make our wand point due north, therefore enabling us to check whether we were going in the right direction within the maze. Until me, Harry was still having trouble with the Shield Charm, though. This was supposed to cast a temporary, invisible wall that deflected minor curses; Hermione managed to shatter it with a well-placed Jelly-Legs Jinx, and Harry wobbled around the room for ten minutes afterward before I had looked up the counter-jinx.

Most of the hexes came very easily to me and I was finding it easier and easier to ward off their jinxes.

"You're still doing really well, though, Harry," Hermione said encouragingly.

"Not as good as Maisey," Harry mumbled.

"I say try harder," I said.

Looking down her list, Hermione crossed off those spells we had already learned, "Some of these are bound to come in handy."

"Come and look at this," said Ron, who was standing by the window. He was staring down onto the grounds. "What's Malfoy doing?"

Harry, Hermione, and I went to see. Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle were standing in the shadow of a tree below. Crabbe and Goyle seemed to be keeping a lookout; both were smirking. Malfoy was holding his hand up to his mouth and speaking into it.

"He looks like he's using a walkie-talkie," said Harry curiously.

"He can't be," said Hermione, "I've told you, those sorts of things don't work around Hogwarts. Come on, Harry," she added briskly, turning away from the window and moving back into the middle of the room, "let's try that Shield Charm again."

"Harry," I caught his attention, "'CONSTANT VIGILANCE'," I pointed my wand at him, "Ebublio!"

"Maisey!" he scolded from inside of a bubble.

Breakfast was a very noisy affair at the Gryffindor table on the morning of the third task. The post owls appeared, bringing Harry and I a good-luck card from Sirius. It was only a piece of parchment, folded over and bearing a muddy paw print on its front, but we appreciated it all the same. A screech owl arrived for Hermione, carrying her morning copy of the Daily Prophet as usual. She unfolded the paper, glanced at the front page, and spat out a mouthful of pumpkin juice all over it.